Lightning Capital announced a $100 million target for its Venture Fund II and the appointment of former Andreessen Horowitz partner Michele Griffin as General Partner and Chief Operating Officer. The firm said Griffin will take immediate responsibility for Fund II and oversee operations across the organization.

The announcement comes alongside the integration of operations with Premier GTM, a go-to-market advisory firm founded by Griffin. According to the company, the move strengthens Lightning Capital’s ability to provide founders with operational expertise, network access, and business-building resources typically associated with larger venture capital firms.

Griffin brings experience as both an operator and investor, having previously worked at Andreessen Horowitz and advised venture capital firms including Craft Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners through Premier GTM. Lightning Capital said her addition enhances the firm’s support for founders while expanding access to proprietary deal flow and institutional networks.

The new Venture Fund II is focused on what the firm describes as the “AI Ripple Effects,” or the broader industry changes emerging from the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. The investment strategy is centered on five themes: Industry Redesign, Workforce Transformation, Intelligent Infrastructure, AI-Native Market Creation, and the Digital Economy Stack.

Lightning Capital’s platform includes multiple investment strategies across public and private markets. These include Venture Fund I, which has invested in companies such as ElectronX and HyperSphere; the Lightning Systematic Arbitrage and Yield Fund (SAYF), a quantitative digital asset strategy; and the Lightning Unicorn Fund, which provides exposure to late-stage private technology companies including SpaceX and Anthropic through secondary market investments.

The company said its multi-fund structure is designed to provide investors with access to technology-focused opportunities while leveraging insights generated across its various investment vehicles.

Founded as an emerging manager focused on technology innovation, Lightning Capital positions itself as an investment platform connecting institutional investors with next-generation technology companies through a combination of venture, secondary, and digital asset strategies.

KEY QUOTES:

“Michele could have joined any firm, but she chose Lightning Capital. Her arrival is a strategic milestone that delivers immediate value across our entire ecosystem. For our Founders, she provides the elite GTM blueprint and institutional rigor required to scale from seed to market leadership. For our Limited Partners (LPs), her addition elevates our partnership, ensuring our portfolio companies have world-class operational oversight, while her network provides Lightning Capital with the proprietary access needed to capture outsized returns in the most competitive deal in venture tech.”

Jason Albanese, CEO, Co-Founder And GP, Lightning Capital

“The venture landscape has shifted; firms of every size must demonstrate their ability to deliver meaningful value alongside capital. The most effective partners bring strategic insight, operational expertise, and trusted networks that help founders accelerate adoption, scale with discipline, and build enduring companies. Merging with Lightning Capital allows me to bring my experience supporting innovators with operational expertise, company-building guidance, and strategic access across the vast networks I’ve built, while partnering with Jay and Jock to strengthen Lightning Capital’s foundation as a differentiated, multi-fund investment platform. With our $100M Fund II, we are backing early-stage innovators solving for the ‘AI Ripple Effects’, the expanding set of opportunities created as AI moves from experimentation to scaled adoption and transforms industries, infrastructure, workflows, and markets.”

Michele Griffin, Chief Operating Officer And General Partner, Lightning Capital

“With the addition of Michele and the launch of Fund II, we’re scaling a model that brings together sophisticated market data and a best-in-class team. Our value to LP’s extends well beyond mere access, it’s rooted in intelligence from across our platform and diverse experience. From the systematic, real-time signals from our SAYF fund, to the deep-sector data within a Unicorn Fund, we’ve created a frictionless vehicle for allocators to access the tech sector. We’re fusing expertise with an interconnected fund strategy that is as efficient as it is exclusive.”

Dr. Jock Percy, CFO, Co-Founder And GP, Lightning Capital